What they say and do....

The boys never cease to amuse me when it comes to all the things they say and do. This past week was no exception...they provided again! :)

Wednesday night B overheard me telling someone about our upcoming weekends and how "the boys fly out that day..." His eyes got all big and said, "FLY?" I shushed him and he went to play, but as soon as we got in the van to drive home, he asked me what I was talking about. So I explained that coming up in late April the *plan* is for them (both boys) to fly out to see Aunt J and the family for a week, and then we would come out the next weekend for the activities we have planned, and they would come home with us. Of course, they were ECSTATIC! Well, the next morning, before they ever got out of bed, I could hear them talking, which isn't all that unusual. They occasionally will lay in bed talking for a few minutes before they get up. But they just kept talking and I could hear things being moved around, but they never came out of their room. I figured they were just playing, but it was getting a bit odd, cuz they never wait that long. Soon, here comes B. He walks out, goes straight to the laundry room, gets two bottles of water, and starts to go back to their room. I asked him what he was doing. He said, "We're packing our stuff for the plane trip." I reminded him that the trip wasn't for another 6 weeks. He said, "Yeah, I know...we're just wanting to be ready so it won't take so much time to get ready later on." LOL So I let them....

A few minutes later, C comes out and tells me that he wants to wear a pair of his nights (pull-ups for night time) on the airplane ride. I asked him why and he said so that way if he has to go potty while they're flying, he can just go. I said, "Oh, honey, don't worry...there's a bathroom on the plane so you can go if you need to." He just looked at me funny and said, "So, if I have to go to the bathroom, will they just land the plane so I can get up and go?" :-) Fighting a grin and a laugh, I explained to him that when you're up in the air like that, it's safe to get up and go to the bathroom, but when you're done you need to come back and buckle your seat belt. LOL I love it!

A bit later, they come trucking down the hallway with their stuff in tow: a box and a plastic container of all their stuff that they are packing. They plop it all down by the front door and I had to explain to them that they couldn't actually pack their stuff in THOSE containers cuz they wouldn't be allowed on the airplane...and that we couldn't leave their stuff sitting by the front door for the next 6 weeks! LOL They were sad that they had to unpack their stuff, but they finally did it. Just too cute.....

Then yesterday, we were on our way home from a couple of appointments and B asked me how much slushies cost. I told him and he said, "Okay...then I have enough. When Daddy's off tomorrow, and we're out running errands, I want to buy everyone a slushy." Awwww. :) My baby.... Most times, he can be SO generous and it just warms my heart! :) I love seeing that side of him and he shows it more and more.

Ouch!

Well, we were in Salem this weekend...where 10 inches of snow fell in 8 hours! Wow! It was truly beautiful coming down, but amazed me at it's 'quickness'. The weather for our town had said that the snow would be a dusting or just flurries, so when we left, I didn't bother taking any kind of heavy coats, boots, hats, or gloves for the boys. MISTAKE! Thankfully, it was windy and cold enough that they didn't want to stay out too long in it, but since all they had was tennis shoes, it completely soaked their socks and shoes each time they went out and played in it! The good part was I got to whack all of them with a broom when they were ready to come in so I could 'sweep' off all the snow on their coats and pants! LOL

Another ouch for our economy...another bailout for AIG and now the Dow is down 300+ points to 6700-something. Amazing how we just keep giving money to these companies who have proven (twice now) that they can't responsibly handle themselves and the money we have provided for them.... The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same action and expecting a different result...so is our government insane?? I think so. What's Obama gonna do now?? When's he gonna actually bail-out the American person? That stimulus certainly won't do it!

End of February

There really isn't a whole lot that's new this week! But I feel compelled to write something! LOL

Terry still has a job (thankfully!)!

The boys and I haven't been sick (thankfully!)!

It's been warmer outside (thankfully!)!

We're SO ready for spring! It was nice enough today to go out and play with our neighbor....you'd think I had kept the boys inside for 3 months. Oh! Wait....I did. LOL They were so happy to be outside and didn't even care that they didn't have toys out there to play with...they were happy to play with sticks, leaves, and the wind. :-) It's a proud moment when they are so easily entertained!

We have a busy couple of weeks coming up...well, weekends. We have a ton of things to choose from each weekend and are finding ourselves a bit overwhelmed with all the options! Thankfully, we're getting good at saying no when needed and we're getting good at recognizing when we need a weekend at home. The time will come soon enough when those decisions are taken out of our hands and we'll find ourselves so busy we won't know which way is up!

One of these days I'll get my videos from the Sweetheart banquet on here so you can see what a great job the kids at church did serving others.

Till then!

Nothing new

Nothing new has happened in the last week! I just felt compelled to come here and say that! LOL

We're continuing with school like normal and trying to stay on target with that. Terry is still working his normal 4 days a week. Last week his day off he was sick with fever, even though he got up and ran errands! (Silly man!) The boys and I had a homeschool thing to go to that day, so we were away from the house. But instead of staying in bed and getting sleep, Terry decided to get up and work through his sickness. *sigh*

Last weekend, when mom and dad were here for the Superbowl weekend, mom went out and went sledding with the kids. I got some great videos! :)











The boys (and Terry) also built a snowman in the front yard! He was SOOOO cute!


We had a carrot nose (of course) and Tricuits for eyes (!) and a slice of pink gum for his mouth (quite appropriate I thought!). But it was a good thing I got pictures of him....by the next morning it had warmed up enough that his head had melted away! And by the time we came home from church, he was completely gone. That just may be the shortest lived snowman in history! LOL

These next two are of mom after she and Brent hit the ditch on the sled! We were all laughing so hard!



Coming up this weekend, we have a Sweetheart Banquet at church for the Junior Youth...where they have invited the Senior Saints of the congregation to be their Sweethearts! :) They have songs they will be singing for them and will be serving them dinner and everything. Can't wait! The boys are very excited and have been singing their songs here at home.

***I have no idea why the spacing is SO messed up with Blogger, but recently, that's been the norm! Sorry you had to wade through the extra spaces!***

Newest developments

T's work had a company-wide meeting today letting them know about the newest job developments. So here's the scooop:

It was laid out in greater detail than I will provide here (cuz only parts of it apply to us, thankfully!), but suffice it to say that they are laying off about 20% of their employees...out of about 1,000 people. The rest are still on mandatory 4-day weeks, with the 5th day being a vacation day (so they get paid for that day), but are also now being required to take one week of un-paid vacation per quarter (3 months). We're not sure yet when that will happen for Terry (when his week off will be) but we're already looking at how this is affecting us financially.

We'll be okay...God will provide. He will take care of us. :)

I feel really sorry for the rest of the people who are being laid off. They are regular folk, just like us, and many have families. It's not like they are only choosing the ones who are just couples or single. (Of course not, that would be discrimination! LOL) It's just so scary, cuz we also believe that this is only Round 1....there will more than likely be more coming in the next 3-5 months...so who is next?? Could it be us?? Who knows...

Our First Snow of 2009

Well, we started getting ice on Monday evening about 6. It didn't quit icing until Tuesday night about midnight. Sometime after that it started snowing...and then quit by morning! LOL We got about 3-4 inches of ice packed in underneath 3-4 inches of snow. Wowee! Made for some good sledding today for the kids! But it made for some interesting driving and digging-out this morning for the adults that had to go to work! It took Terry nearly an hour to get out of the snow that was up to the bottom of his car!

Well, I had Terry get some snow from outside in bowls for me so I could make some snow ice cream later. That's one thing the boys have looked forward to...and is a tradition I hope to continue from my childhood onto theirs. But the boys had no idea that it had snowed last night. They knew it had been icing yesterday, but they knew they couldn't play in the ice. So when they finally realized there was snow (about an hour and a half after they got up!) they decided to come up with a picture and a song for me to tell me they wanted to go out and play. Here's the picture:

The song was like this, to the tune of "Jingle Bells":
Christmas time, Christmas time,
It's Christmas time outside!
Snow has fallen, let's all cheerin',
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!

LOL Whatever! They had fun. So I told them that we'd get to go outside, but it would be only after.... And they knew, "We finish our school work." So they took off to the schoolroom and Brent was done with all of his work in like an hour...totally amazed me! When there's motivation, it's amazing what can get accomplished!


So we ate lunch and bundled up and headed outside. I was wearing a pair of boots of Terry's (cuz I have no heavy shoes to speak of) and decided his coat was warmer than mine, so I wore one of his coats. The boys laughed at me cuz I 'looked like Daddy.' :) Here are some random shots of our time outside and some explanation where needed.


Of course, Brent took advantage of the fresh snow to make a snow angel...




At the top of this one on the left you can see his finished angel. Then on the right, they wanted to make a 'path' with their shovels....



Clayton found this large block of snow and decided to offer me some of his 'ice cream'...when I didn't want any he said, "Fine, I'll eat it myself!" and I got a shot of him just as he ate it! Then he went off the porch and decided to clock himself in the head with it! LOL



Clayton decided to start throwing snow up in the air and have 'snow showers'....it covered all of us!



In this one below-right, Brent was getting ready to take a bit of snow when Clayton was starting to throw it in the air...Brent reached up and blocked him...but shoved the snow in Clayton's face! ROFL! He was crying, I was laughing. I know...I'm a great mom!



I have a couple video's to share too...the first one is Brent sledding down our hill. He discovered that he really likes sledding! He kept going down and up, down and up...over and over. Clayton wasn't having any of it. He would watch and laugh and yell, but wouldn't do it himself.





Finally, I convinced Clayton to sled. The first time, I helped him so much that I couldn't get a video of it. Well, he was sitting so far to the back and was so light, that he was FLYING...literally. He was bouncing and popping up off the snow as he was going down. Well, he enjoyed it enough that I convinced him to do it again. This time....



Well, of course, he was crying and very upset. I finally got to him and calmed him down and asked if he got hurt. He said no. Did he get scared going too fast? No. So I had him look at me and tell me what was wrong.... He said, "Why did those people have to put that building there....if it wasn't for that I could have gone farther!!!" He wasn't hurt...he was mad cuz he had to stop!!! But then he refused to do it again! Weird child!


Anyway, Brent continue on sledding and they went on to other things. Then Brent decided to go to the other side of the house and sled down that side of the hill... Clayton decided he wanted to ride down with Brent! So, I helped them get set up and gave them a push....

Grade posting

I have graded Brent's workbooks for Units 1 & 2. Here is a summary:

Unit 1:
Phonics - 96% - A
Reading - 94% - A

Unit 2:
Phonics - 97% - A
Reading - 92% - A

So far so good! :) I don't have much on math yet...will get Social Studies done soon.

Ice and more ice

We're finally getting a winter here, but it's not the kind of winter we want! Instead of snow, we're getting ice. And LOTS of it. Oddly, it's coming down in pellets instead of the freezing rain stuff that we had last year...so this doesn't seem to be sticking to trees and power lines, just cars and roads! LOL Right now we're at about 4 inches of ice and it's still coming down. We're supposed to have snow on top of this but that depends on how low the winds blow the snow-storm. Who knows....

The boys of course are not getting a snow day off of school. :( They are grumpy about it, but they are living with it. Brent keeps asking me when they will get a day off school and I told him they gets days off all the time, I just don't point it out. Hmm..perhaps I should? :)

No word yet on the job front for Terry. Right now things are just status quo. Hopefully, they will stay this way...if they do then all will be okay. If they change again, that's when things will get really interesting.

I am working on this diet thing....again. I've added exercise into my routine, which is really hard for me. But I'm working on it. I've lost 1 lb. 1 measly pound. It's depressing, but I'm trying not to let it get to me.

Apple Dumpling Gang

Just posted about the Apple Dumpling Gang on my Review Blog. :)

They fixed it!

Recently, our credit card was charged over $600 to a Walt Disney World vacation...a charge we certainly didn't do! Granted this caused some stress and worry over our CC having been stolen, possibly having to change it, etc. Terry called the company and talked to them about it and they let us know they would launch an investigation into the situation, but that it would be around 30 days until we heard something, cuz they have to contact the merchant to confirm the actions. Okay, we were fine with that as long as we wouldn't be charged any fees or interest while it was happening.

Well, today, we got a phone call that all is well! The merchant let them know that there was no paper record of that charge, and so therefore, the credit card company would refund our account that money and show it as a zero. We are so very grateful that this didn't turn into something more frustrating and time consuming than it had to be.

And as Terry says, this is why he loves credit cards as opposed to debit cards....he can fight this without having to pay for it first. Where as with debit cards, the money is gone and then you have to fight it and try to get the money back.

At least it's all figured out! :)

Back to the daily grind...

Things are getting back to normal a bit this week. We're back to doing school daily (which I'm thankful for!) and Terry is back to work. He did find out on Monday that he will be working 4-day work-weeks starting with next week. He will have to use vacation time for that 5th day until his vacation time is gone. After that, I don't know what will happen. ?? *sigh* We're doing lots of praying right now, working on budgets, and trying to decide what to do with our house. Do we sell? Do we not sell?

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I haven't posted much about Clayton's latest issues....tummy troubles. He had the flu back in November and ever since then, hasn't been the same. He's been eating very oddly: only a few bites before saying he's full, only to come back within 30 minutes being hungry again. Then he would get so that he'd be literally sick to his stomach...to the point of feeling like he was gonna throw up. That was around Thanksgiving. We decided to take him to the dr in mid-December cuz his eating was just not right, plus he was getting really constipated. The doc put him on a laxative, took blood, and took an x-ray to see how "full" he was. The x-ray showed he wasn't impacted (yet) but he was very full. :( So we started the laxative and were supposed to do that for a month and come back.

THEN, over Christmas, we were in Salem and C hadn't gone to the bathroom from a Sunday to a Saturday (even on the laxative!) and he wasn't eating at all. We started getting concerned and started feeding him prunes and increasing water and other fruit, but he just wasn't eating much....cuz he was FULL. LOL Well, I massaged his tummy for a while (which he said hurt, of course) and he was finally able to go. He was better after that, a little, but was still having issues.

Well, thankfully, he had his one month appointment with Dr Mark and we explained what all happened. Dr said that there are some kids who have this problem that have to be on a laxative for up to 6 months!! (The reason being is that by being constipated for so long, they have stretched their colons and using the laxative keeps things regular and being on it for that long gives the muscles time to 'repair' and go back to the normal size.) He took another x-ray and did one more blood test (poor kid keeps getting stuck!). The x-ray showed that his colon is still full (which kinda confuses me) and that his TSH (thyroid) is within normal range.

(**SIDE NOTE** His TSH they said was in 'normal' range. However, normal range is .3 to 5.5...C's TSH was 1.3. Yes, that is within normal range, but it's on the LOW side of normal, right? I mean, on a scale of 0 to 5, 1 seems pretty low. Is his something to pursue???)

Anyway, we are going to continue with things the way they are for another month and see what happens. We're increasing water intake for him and really working on watching what he's eating.

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I have a couple videos that I have tried uploading (of Christmas) and something is up with Blogger...they aren't working. *Sigh* Maybe sometime I can get them on here! LOL

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I have a dear (and VERY patient!) friend who asked about my filing system I use in my school room/office. Well, I have meant to take pictures for... well, for a VERY long time...and have just gotten it done! I am posting them below to show you how I was taught to file things. Now, this filing system is just for myself...this is not the system we use for our family files (like budgetary stuff). Those are in a small file at the desk. This file cabinet is basically my personal file cabinet which contains all things school related and all Bible class material that I have and anything else I want to file for personal use. This system I now use was shown to me by a friend who is a born organizer! LOL She came down about 2 years ago now and helped me organize all of our school room. It is actually a system that I have maintained (meaning that when I clean the school room up, I still use this system) and I really do like it.

First is the files:
These first two below are an over-view. You can see that there are first, hanging files with all tab-names on the left. Each hanging file is labeled with some subject that is easy for me to remember. This would be custom-created for each person who is doing this. So, for instance, you can see that some of mine are Art, Clayton (he and Brent get their own files), Convention Notes, Coupons, Crafts, God/Father, Holidays, Holy Spirit, etc. (On God/Father and Holy Spirit: Holly (my friend) said that if there is a few specific areas that I am interested in and find myself collecting articles on or studying on more often than others, to start a separate file for those topics and when I have an article about it I can just drop it into that particular file. Otherwise, all other articles, notes, or thoughts, go in a general "Spiritual" file.) These files are all in alphabetical order, too.

Below, is the main hanging file labeled "Holidays". Within that file are manila folders with different holidays listed on them (right): Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc. This way when I get a craft idea or a decorating idea on a particular holiday, I can stick it in here. When that holiday comes around and I'm doing school and thinking, 'It'd be nice to have a craft for this,' then I can go to that file instead of the arts and crafts file, since I am wanting a craft about a specific topic.

Now, let's say that the Christmas folder gets really full...and is almost too full to contain in the Holidays hanging folder (which is a conceivable happening, since Christmas is my favorite holiday and I save just about everything regarding Christmas!). When this happens (for any topic) you just start a new hanging folder for that topic (Christmas) and transfer all things in the Christmas folder to the Christmas hanging file.

Another for instance, my science hanging file is HUGE, containing topics from earth science to animal science, to trees, to food. It started out that we had one hanging file for Science and manila folders within it for all the different kinds of sciences. Once we saw how much was in each manila folder, we decided to split them out. Now, I have one complete section (at the end of all my hanging files) just for Science. That section has given each type of science it's own hanging file labeling it Animal Science, Earth Science, Space/Astronomy, etc. Within Animal Science, there are manila folders labeled things like snakes, land animals, water animals, etc. Within Earth Science there are manila folders labeled dirt, trees, rocks, etc.

I also have a regular Science hanging file in the regular alphabetized hanging files for other things science that I run across that don't have a specific area yet in our system.

Below, is the Bible Class materials drawers. Each topic that I had information for or each Book of the Bible that I had information for got it's own hanging file and these, too, are alphabetized. Within each file are the lessons and worksheets that I have collected over the years for them. So when (if) I'm teaching again and I'm teaching on the Beattitudes, I have a file just for that topic that is filled with worksheets and lesson ideas.

On our bookshelves are the curriculum books that I use and browse through throughout the year and the reference books that we use. However, there are also a lot of 'containers' on the shelves. See, I used to have piles of glue bottles and nowhere to put them. Boxes of crayons (or half-boxes was more the case) and no good way to store them. TONS of pencils and pens and nowhere to store them. Markers, sticky notes, paper clips, etc. No good way to store any of it except in a big messy box. Well, Holly suggested putting all like things in a plastic container with a lid (so it's stackable) on the shelves.

First, she put all the markers in one container, all the pens and pencils in another, all the crayons in another, all art supplies in another, all glue (from stick to bottle) in another, and all paper in another (I had construction paper, loose leaf paper, tablets, and kids lined paper everywhere!), and all these things she stacked on the shelves. WOW! I now knew where everything was! :) **One thing to note here is that these containers need to be clear and see-through so that you know which one to go into when you're getting things out.**

Next, she got some of those stackable rolly-carts with different sized drawers for the desk supplies that I had no room for at the desk. Within these drawers were storage trays and dividers for things to lay neatly in. In them is everything from tape (scotch, packing, duck, masking) to Sharpie markers to sticky notes to paper clips to staples to highlighters to rubber bands and more. There are even battery drawers at the very top where we segregate AA's, AAA's, C's, and D's. Now we know (or I do!) where to look for anything.

Like I said, this system is one that I have been maintaining now for about 2 years. Granted, there are many times where you could walk into my school room and it doesn't look like anything is maintained except chaos!!! LOL But whether clean or dirty, the system still is what it is and I can still find things. And we're getting better at putting it all back where it goes when we're finished. That is something we're working on! LOL

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That's all for now...but since it's taken me about 3 days to get this typed out, I will have to say it's enough! :)

"That's not cornbread!"

The other night, I attempted to make (again!) ham and beans. For some who know, this has been a many-year-long process for me to learn how to make ham and beans....cuz, they either end up a complete mushy mess or they end up fine on the outside and still hard and crunchy on the inside. *sigh* So, after soliciting the help of some online friends (thanks to Sunny and Sis and others!), I think I have figured out a way to do this! First I soaked the beans for about 3-4 hours in regular water, then rinsed them, and put them in a pot with water and brought them to a boil. I continued to cook them in the same way that I have always cooked them, and they were GREAT! :)











Well, I made some cornbread to go with it, and was busy when I started to smell it so I asked T to check on it for me. Brent jumped up and went to open the oven door....he shouts: "That's NOT cornbread!" I just figured he was thinking it wasn't brown around the edges and looked funny. Terry looked at it and said there were bubbles on the top....I told him it is sorta like pancakes where the bubbles come to the top and pop as it's cooking. He said, "Well, maybe so, but I've never seen bubbles like this!" So I finished what I was doing and went to check....

I have never seen cornbread do this before, so I had to take these pics! LOL I had mountains in my cornbread!!!

Well, I was going over the way I made it in my head after that and realized I forgot to put baking powder OR salt in the recipe! DOH!! So, we have truly unleavened cornbread Saturday night for dinner! :)

Just goes to show that the baking powder really does make a difference!

Miscellaneous of the Boys

Just some random shots of the boys showing off their "muscles" and their mean/scary looks:

One afternoon as we were putting our Christmas decorations up, mom and I were chatting in the kitchen. The boys were taking a break from helping and we caught them doing a Sudoku on the couch together. Brent was helping Clayton figure it out and they were just so cute together I had to get a couple shots!

"I told you not to do that!"

A while back when we were painting (before Christmas), the boys and I were at the paint store and the boys were acting like the paint machine. To do this they have to jump up and down and shake all over.... Well, I told them that they were gonna get hurt or possibly hurt something else if they didn't quit, but of course, being boys, they felt they had to continue! Next thing I knew, I heard B crying and Clayton came running to me, "I didn't do anything, Mom! I promise!!" LOL I get over to the paint machine (I was maybe 5 feet away looking at paint brushes) and already there is this swollen bump-line on Brent's head...right between the eyes! It was swelling and was bright purply-red. Oy. So, after questioning him, I find out that he slipped on something on the floor and crashed his face into the corner of the metal cabinet that the paint machine is on! Of course, I had to do that "I told you not to do that!" speech, but all was well!


Anyway, here are a couple of shots of it for your pleasure!

A School Funny

Okay, so I'm grading papers/workbooks this week...um from Unit 1...and we're getting ready to start Unit 3. Yeah, I know: I'm behind! LOL What else is new???

Anyway, as I'm grading Brent's reading comprehension workbook, I just started laughing and told Terry that Brent is SOOOOO a Schafer and VERY much his engineer-father's son! Throughout the book there are times when it asks a question and wants them to find it in the reading and write a sentence or phrase for the answer. He's done this and has typically done it well. As I'm looking at about Lesson 14, there is a question that says: "Native Indians were a very clean people. Find three instances in your reading that showed their cleanliness. A. B. C." and then some lines for him to write the phrase or sentences. Did he do that??? N.O.P.E. Here is what he wrote:

A. Paragraph 10, sentence 3
B. Paragragh 13, all
C. Paragraph 5, last part.

LOL, okay...that just made me laugh. His logic and reasoning sometimes is good, others times it just creates more work for me! Oy.

Another Christmas Update

Well, we are finally done with all our Christmases! We had a good time with all our families and have really enjoyed the time we got to spend with everyone. But it's been a crazy-busy time for us and I have to admit that we're glad to be done traveling and be done with the busy-ness. Which isn't to say that we aren't busy anymore....HA! Far from it! We're still busy, but we are going back to our "normal" busy stuff, if that makes any sense!

Mom, Dad, my sister and her family were all here over the last week and we spent a fun 5 days together eating, playing games, visiting, watching movies, eating, playing games, eating some more, and playing more games! But I have to say that the 3 AM nights really got to me....I'm SO tired this week!

I plan on posting pictures soon....I have a ton to post and a couple videos still of the boys from our family Christmas that I want to share. It's just been so nice to get away from the computer for a few days and just enjoy the time with my boys...all three of them. Terry goes back to work next Monday and I'm really hoping things will go even further back to normal when that happens. LOL Hopefully in the next few days I can get some pics posted....

Till then....

New Appliance

Brent got his new appliance today....a palate expander. :) He was nervous, excited, apprehensive, and scared all at the same time. But the expander went on well and was cemented like it needed to be. Now he has to work on relearning how to talk and learning how to swallow (and not slurp!)! It will take some days to get used to it and begin the process, but I know he'll make it just fine. We go back in a month to recheck everything, but we have to turn it every other day, which means I have to be on top of things! LOL

The only down part really of the whole thing is that Brent is quite upset that he can't have a huge list of items while he has the appliance.... no gum (!), no chewy candy (caramel, skittles, taffy, etc), no suckers or hard candy. He looked at me after the assistant left the area and said, "Now I can't have dessert for 6 months!!" I said, "You can have ice cream." He was quick to point out that we didn't have any ice cream at the house....so I guess I will be getting some today! LOL He also told me that no one else in the family could have gum for 6 months...cuz it wouldn't be fair for us to have it and he couldn't. We'll have to see about that! LOL

Christmas has come and is coming more...

Last Saturday, we had our Christmas here with the boys since my family was coming in during this week to spend the holiday here. We thought we'd get our gifts out of the way...and have them opened and able to be used when everyone was here! :) The kids had a great time opening and using their gifts...most of which were either Wii products or movies. There were other things, but we really like family movie nights here...and so movies were a big part of it. If we're not watching movies, we're playing the Wii. Anyway, as soon as we got things opened up, we started the day of playing, movie watching, playing, movie watching, etc... so much fun and relaxation. ;) I have a couple of videos to post and a ton of pics to post, but will have to do that at a later time....there just isn't time to sit and wait for them to upload right now! LOL I need to go play the Wii....

Then we found out that it would work out best for all concerned with my family for us to postpone our Christmas to the following week (the week of New Years) to ensure that the kids will get the most time together. Well, and us adults too, but the focus is the kids. :) Which is actually really nice, cuz I wasn't quite ready to have 10 people in my house! LOL I could have been ready, but why push it, huh?

So we are leaving in the next couple of days to go to Salem a bit early instead of just Friday and Saturday. So exciting...we'll get to spend time with a new baby that has joined the family and see all the cousins and nieces and nephews that we never get to see! The kids are looking forward to having 3 more Christmases in the next week too! LOL

I wish everyone who reads this and checks in with us a very Merry Christmas! I probably won't be back to update again until after the New Year, so Happy New Year too!

Job update

Things are certainly getting interesting with the economy and how it's effecting us in the job area! Even though Terry is working for Toyoda (a Toyota company, Japanese based) they make parts for both Ford and GM owned companies. So since those companies are having problems, it is creating problems for TG. There has been talk since Thanksgiving that things were going to change for them over Christmas (they normally get about a week off for "shut down" over Christmas and New Years), but they weren't sure yet how much. Well, about two weeks ago, we found ot that they would be off definitely the 22nd and 23rd of this month. Okay, not bad. But then the next day, they added the 18th and 19th to that. Then the next day they said they would also not be working the first full week of January (5th-9th) and would be coming back on the 12th.

Really, that isn't so bad, but they are making people use their own vacation time in order to get paid for these days off. That's 9 days of vacation!!! And for those who didn't have the time, they had to take it without pay. I feel so sorry for those people...thankfully, we have the time for it. (I'm just not sure what I will do having Terry home for 3 weeks straight!)

But things are possibly getting worse. There is rumor that there will be more days in January that they will have to not work and another rumor (which is 99% confirmed by a member of management) that they will be going to a 4-day work week. Now, that's not 4-10's. That would be 4-8's. So they would only work 32 hours a week instead of 40. We're not sure as of yet when that's gonna happen or how the pay issue would work out since Terry is salaried. Legally, there can be some issues there.

For the time being, I'm trying to keep Terry from worrying about things...but that's hard to do with him being the head of the household and feeling so strongly about filling that role so well. He feel responsible and is worried that things are going to get so much worse in the coming months. But we're healthy, have a roof over our heads, have food on our table, and have presents under our tree. We are BLESSED and we are trying to focus on counting those blessings.

Family is coming to spend some time at our house in ONE WEEK! :) The kids are getting so excited and I have to admit, so am I! LOL